STREAMING LIVE GAMES

If the fans are not going to be allowed back into Stadia this side of Christmas, then the televised coverage of Dunfermline Athletic matches at East End Park and at Away grounds takes on far greater significance.

How good it would be for Pars Supporters to be able to buy a package to watch every game on the vastly improved PARS TV.

Sadly, it is not so simple.Yes the UEFA block on Clubs being allowed to show a match,at the very same time as the entire League programme is being played, eg Saturday at 3pm, has been removed, but there are two substantial road blocks.

A number of Scottish Championship Clubs are expressing concern that the ability to make a considerable sum from Home matches with Hearts and Dundee is threatened.One of the BBC TV Scotland Channel`s biggest audiences is for Friday night "Championship Sportscene". Indeed the BBC were caught on the hop by the size of that TV audience hence the marked improvement in production values.

BBC TV Scotland has negotiated a deal to cover twenty Friday night matches live.82% of the income from that lucrative contract goes to the Premiership with their snouts in the trough.

The main problem with these broadcasts, though, is that the BBC is making no secret of the fact that they want to focus mainly on the away games involving Hearts and Dundee.Indeed, coverage of the second tier will begin with Hearts v Dundee, a game bigger than half the Premiership.Arbroath have said this hammers them as they had wanted to arrange lucrative PPV deals for Hearts and Dundee at Gayfield.

The Arbroath Chairman was anticipating as many as 4000 Hearts fans switching on at around £15 a time on the IPad or computer.That is the next best thing to a normal attendance and you don`t risk hypothermia.

Then there is the problem that,while many Pars fans would like a Season to cover every away match, the situation we enjoy if we live abroad, there is no such National agreement.Bewildering though it may be but certain Premiership and Championship clubs, on the one hand bemoaning the fact they are cash strapped, do not welcome the TV cameras from another club .

At the moment it remains to be seen if we can watch our opening Betfred League Cup game at Dumbarton and the other at Kilmarnock. Ross McArthur, the Dunfermline Chairman, wanted to make Season tickets more attractive by including the Home League Cup games but, while we will get to watch Clyde, Premier Sports have bought the rights to the Home match with Falkirk.

That means that Season Ticket holders will be able to access a full PARS TV replay of the match not too long after it ends (midnight). (Older fans may recall Bob and Terry in "The Likely Lads" trying desperately not to know a football result).

A Premier Sports subscription is £9.99 per month and they will cover 28 Scottish matches. However, a few, which they show, are broadcast free simultaneously on the terrestrial channels eg the Scottish FA Cup Edinburgh Derby Semi Final at Halloween. (And yes there is a way you might just see it for £1).

Brian, at PARS TV ,in his interesting post on the link up with QOS TV, has pointed out that Scottish Football Online HAS tried to offer fans a much needed one stop shop to resolve the above problems, and to access PPV streams, but; apart from PARS TV and QOS TV, supporters are going to have to go to all the hassle of registering separately for all other clubs` TV streams. This as potentially a logistical nightmare as high numbers may need support.

SP.